Quoting: TanSor
Brodin looked horrible on his off-side. He was so bad that Boudreau was forced to play Pateryn in the top 4, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. I disagree about Spurgeon needing to be carried, he has been great regardless of whether he's with Suter or Brodin. There's a reason Suter wanted Spurgeon as his partner over Dumba before Dumba was injured...
I never claimed he was a good PK'er, I was talking about his 5v5 stats so the PK is just an irrelevant point... Zdeno Chara has allowed 11 more goals against on the PK than Spurgeon from 2016-2019 (per Corisca.hockey) and you don't see Bruins fans complaining about Chara being a bad PK'er. Hell, Jacob Slavin allowed 19 more goals against on the PK in that span and he's regarded as one of the best defensive D in the league.
I was comparing Spurgeon's expected goals % on 5v5 to his actual goals % on 5v5, that's completely different than just cherry picking one of those stats and claiming one statistic means Spurgeon is a bad D.
BB was forced to play Pateryn in the top 4 because of Dumba's injury, it had nothing to do with Brodin playing off-handed. The pairing choices were Seeler/Brodin, Brodin/Pateryn, or Brodin/AHL callup. Trades for Hunt (good in the o-zone, bad in the d-zone) and Bitteto (bad everywhere). Brodin ended up playing with a different person ever shift (or so it seemed) and both sides of the ice depending on the situation/partner for the rest of the season.
So you see no corrolation between Spurgeon having a high GA/60 on the PK compared to everyone else and his 5v5 eGA? The guy can't play around the crease and be effective. Dub lets in some softies (same as every other goalie), but a lot of the time they are coming through screens from guys net front, or he can't see the shot off the stick because Spurgon is trying to block it (his main way of shot suppression).
Being the highest AAV on the team means you should be the best and/or most important player on the team; to me at least. Spurgeon is the 2nd or 3rd best d-man, and the team doesn't miss a beat when he's injured. Seriously the guy has missed 113 games throughout his career and the Wild have the exact same standings ppg (1.15) when he's injured or when he's playing. And this is with a "lesser" d-man playing in a top-4 for him. Dumba, Koivu, Parise, and Suter all leave noticeable holes when they are out injured; Spurgeon, not so much.